Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Hole’ (2009)

Written by Scott Edwards

It is never fun when you have to move to a new place where you have to start over again. As everybody in town knows more about things than you do, it is hard to fit in. Trying to make friends can be difficult, but if you have some information that can help someone out, it does become easier. Then if you live in a house where strange things have happened, well, there may be a line of folks wanting to come and check it out since they only know what they read in the paper, but have never been inside.

Moving with their mother Susan, Dane and Lucas are in their new home and trying to get a lay of the land. Losing their father, Dane has had a hard time adjusting to the new situation and since they seem to move every couple of years, he does not want to make any relationships in his new town. But when looking out the window, Dane sees his neighbor Julie, and while still not wanting to get involved, Lucas will make sure he gets the introduction. While showing their brotherly love, Dane tries to stay closed off from the world and takes his little brother down to the basement. But what the boys find there will change their outlook on the house forever.

Finding a trapdoor with locks all around it, the boys open it to find that it leads to a bottomless hole. Julie is interested in this as well and finds her way into the basement to see what the boys are investigating. With no bottom in sight, Dane lowers a video camera into the depths, but does not get ample time to check the footage when his mother comes home. Thinking that everything is fine, Dane and Lucas go on with their everyday lives, but they have released something from the darkness. As a clown doll finds its way onto Lucas’s bed, he believes that it is his brother playing tricks on him, but when the clown attacks him in the basement, Lucas knows that there is something sinister to the hole, even though Dane will not listen to him. Trying to keep the door to the hole closed, the boys find out that there is nothing that can keep it shut outside of the locks that they cannot find.

While Julie listens to the stories about what is happening around the house, she knows of one man in town that might actually know what is happening. Creepy Carl lived in the house before Dane and Lucas and even though she never went inside, she did hear the old man screaming while he lived there. Visiting the old man, the group hears that they have unleashed something evil and it will kill them all but think that the old man is off of his rocker. After finding Dane’s sketch book in his shop, Creepy Carl stars to draw frantically as the darkness is coming to get him but he is taken before he is able to finish. When Dane finds the book, he starts to check out all of the drawings inside but cannot make heads or tails of what it means. After witnessing his little brother almost being drowned in Julie’s pool, Dane believes that there is something after them and must find a way to stop it before it is able to kill everyone in the house.

I am a sucker for horror movies that play on your fears and this one does just that. I let the PG-13 rating deter me from watching this movie for some time, but when I actually looked at who directed it, I had to watch. It may not have the blood and guts that get some people into movies, but it does play on the inner fears of the characters, which is pretty frightening, especially when they have something to hide. To be honest, I could not stand Dane throughout as he consistently tortured his little brother, but when it mattered the most, he let his true feelings come out and would help Lucas. Creepy Carl stole the show as I freaking love Bruce Dern as an actor, even though it was a small role, it made me smile to see him again. As far as non-rated R horror movies go, this one is not half bad. I liked the storyline best of all as everyone had their own past that they were trying to hide from, but there is no hiding from the hole. Stay Scared.

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